A resilient female doctor practices in the rugged fringes of the past. She struggles to raise her children in an inopportune environment and is faithfully protected by her lover.
For all its faults, the resemblance of "The Missing" to "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" is only skin-deep.
Adapted from Thomas Eidson's novel "The Last Ride" and directed by Ron Howard ("A Beautiful Mind," "Apollo 13"), the film focuses on the relationship between the Dr. Quinn-ish Maggie (Cate Blanchett) and her father Samuel (Tommy Lee Jones).
When Samuel shows up at Maggie's doorstep years after abandoning his family for a Native American lifestyle, he is met with only minimal hospitality. He receives opposite receptions from Maggie's daughters. Lilly (Evan Rachel Wood) rejects him as a savage while Dot (Jenna Boyd) is thrilled by the possibility that she is part Native-American.
Maggie is soon stripped of the security that allows her to reject her father's kindness. Lilly, resentful of her family's harsh lifestyle on a remote homestead, insists on traveling to an exhibition for a taste of civilization and culture.
Lilly is accompanied by Maggie's lover Chidin (Eric Schweig) and Dot tags along as well. When they do not return home, Maggie sets out to find only Dot. Chidin is dead and Lily has been kidnapped.
Stripped of both a daughter and the man she would typically turn to for help, Maggie is forced to look to her father. Not only is he the only person she can turn to, but the captors are among the Native-Americans he became familiar with by deserting Maggie.
Maggie makes no opportunistic pretense of instant absolution. She may be forced to accept her father's charity, but she does not let go of the past so easily. Forced to spend time together and work towards a common goal, the relationship slowly improves.
The search for Lily and the battle for her freedom are largely forgettable, memorable only for how long it drags on and the ridiculous witch doctor holding her captive.
The long tension does earn "The Missing" a few heartwarming emotional moments, but they hardly seem to compensate for the boredom surrounding them. The last act of the movie should not have made it past the cutting room.
Sit this one out and rent "Ransom," Howard's more successful 1996 film about Mel Gibson's impassioned search for his kidnapped son. It might pass on the mystique of the old west, but it is a sacrifice well worth making.
